BRIEF AND REQUIREMENTS

Since 1989, Emmanuel Schools Foundation (ESF) has been responsible for substantial educational improvement for schools across Northern England. Working with Bede Academy North, Bede Academy South, Emmanuel College, and The King’s Academy – four sites located in the North East of England – the Multi-Academy Trust (MAT) quickly recognised that a misaligned digital strategy with outdated technologies was becoming a significant barrier to learning.

ESF needed a full-service interactive displays brand to overhaul its current technology infrastructure and transform its new digital strategy to engage pupils whilst providing a user-friendly experience for teachers in the classroom. The trust was aware of a digital divide forming within the schools and urgently needed a solution that would give all students and teachers the same quality of equipment and level of access to fulfil their learning and teaching potential.

PROJECT OUTCOME

BenQ UK was invited to present its interactive panel solutions at a product presentation facilitated by Systems Integrator, Strive AV. After demonstrating a clear understanding of ESF’s personal needs and ensuring that the RP Series could seamlessly integrate into the pre-existing Microsoft 365 IT framework, the BenQ RP8603, RP7504, RP8604, and RP6504 displays were selected as the most suitable options, with different boards being deployed within the different schools depending on classroom size and requirements.

Approximately 165 RP8603 displays were installed across Kings Academy and Emmanuel College in February/March 2023, while 28 RP7504, 66 RP8604 and 4 RP6504 displays were installed across Bede Academy South and North in Summer 2024.

Since the panel installations, ESF has witnessed a transformative impact on the educational environment provided in its schools. Teachers within the trust now have access to user-friendly, cutting-edge digital technology that effortlessly integrates with Microsoft 365, allowing teachers to teach the way they want to without limitations. Meanwhile, ongoing technology training following the installations has aligned to ESF’s strategy to empower its staff, paving the way for them to embrace innovative education solutions, and unleash their potential.

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With technology advancing at lightning speed, many schools still find themselves limited by outdated tools that hinder teacher creativity and student engagement. ESF knew that the traditional four walls of the classroom were no longer enough to keep students engaged, and that its outdated IT infrastructure was standing in the way of effective learning.

The trust knew it had to address this issue now, or risk being left behind, turning to interactive displays to create a modern, digital classroom with a dynamic, immersive learning environment. ESF sought the expertise of Strive AV to fulfil its digital strategy ambitions in all of the schools and create an environment fit for the future.

IDENTIFYING THE ROADBLOCKS TO LEARNING

After the COVID-19 pandemic, ESF began to re-evaluate its digital strategies and audited every school within the trust to create a new robust digital strategy.

Having previously been hindered by outdated classroom technology, and a misaligned internal digital programme, ESF soon realised that its front-end technologies within classrooms across the trust were acting as a barrier to effective learning – proving disadvantageous to both students and teachers.

Digital equity remains a key issue in education whereby some schools experience digital poverty compared to others within the same trust. Left unaddressed, ESF recognised that the digital divide within its schools was at risk of growing and knew that it was key to ensure digital equality across all schools, regardless of size or location.

Although they knew that action needed to be taken, the trust wanted to retain its ethos of letting teachers ‘teach the way they want to teach’. This meant that ESF needed a solution that would simplify the introduction of new technologies instead of forcing teacher to learn new and complicated systems.

CHOOSING THE PERFECT PARTNER FOR THE TASK

After evaluating several brands, ESF recognised BenQ’s offering as the best solution that would enable it to achieve a complete overhaul of its classroom technology and close the digital divide between its schools.

With a personalised approach to each school within the trust, BenQ avoided introducing a single-standardised solution, instead tailoring the technology package to fit each school within the trust and its specific needs.

Strive AV worked closely with Andrew on this project and continues to facilitate an open and trusting relationship between ESF and BenQ for future training and additional projects across the trust expected in 2025.

FROM VISION TO REALITY

Since the installation, the new interactive displays have had a profound impact on both teachers and students within ESF schools, and today play a crucial role in creating an immersive learning environment.

Teachers within the MAT are now able to provide resources to students both in person and remotely, breaking down the traditional four walls of the classroom. They can provide learning materials to students from anywhere and can also leverage files from the cloud to help remote learners feel more connected.

Focused on helping teachers to teach the way they want to teach, BenQ’s displays have also provided them with the option to pivot to new ways of teaching in order to engage with every student and cater to any learning type.

With a simple touch of a button, InstaShare 2 allows teachers to share their screen and the intuitive touchback technology means that they can control the screen directly from the display. This allows teachers to easily display a student’s work as an example, and the floating browser mode allows them to use the EZWrite 6 whiteboarding software alongside the shared screen to make notes and collaborate with students in real time. This combination of technology encourages a collaborative and reflective approach within the classroom and allows teachers freedom and creativity when teaching.

And, when it comes to providing additional support to students that might be struggling with the learning tasks, the split screen tool allows teachers to display the learning materials on one half of the screen, while working through a particular problem with a group of students on the other half. This allows them to easily tailor their teaching methods to a variety of student needs within the classroom.

In addition to this, with the inclusion of the Google Play Store on the RP Series boards, teachers can download and use new applications for a range of different lessons to help enhance student engagement and provide different learning experiences for all learning abilities.

BEYOND THE CLASSROOM

Alongside the classroom benefits, BenQ also worked closely with the ESF team to provide ongoing support and training to both the IT staff and teachers, particularly when drawing focus to the enhanced security and simplified access features within the displays. With BenQ’s enhanced security offerings on the RP Series, ESF has also begun to roll out its initial cloud training across the MAT, and is continuing to work closely with BenQ to implement additional device management for energy efficiency and trust security.

This includes the initial test phases of the single sign-on (SSO) features on the RP Series boards, designed to enhance the security of the classroom technology. Once fully implemented, the ease and flexibility of SSO will allow teachers secure access to all BenQ RP boards within the trust, both in different classrooms and different schools – enabling full integration across the MAT.

With interactive technology now at the heart of each classroom, the trust has not only overcome the barriers presented by outdated technology but has also effectively broken down the traditional four walls of the classroom to create a new immersive learning environment within its schools. With BenQ’s assistance and guidance, ESF is continuing to build on its digital strategy to become a leading education trust embracing innovative educational solutions.